


so much left unspoken

by EmeraldTulip



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Birthday Party, M/M, Multi, POV Alternating, gina moves back, lots of emotions but also fun stuff because thats what being a teenager is, seblos is the only established ship, the ricky/gina/nini could be read as a love triangle or pre poly it doesnt really matter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:07:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22168342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldTulip/pseuds/EmeraldTulip
Summary: Some people are in love, some are just enjoying pizza, some are flat-out confused—but it's Gina's birthday. Yeah, that should be the most important thing.
Relationships: Ashlyn Caswell & E.J. Caswell, Ricky Bowen/Gina Porter/Nini Salazar-Roberts, Seb Matthew-Smith & Carlos Rodriguez & Nini Salazar-Roberts, Seb Matthew-Smith/Carlos Rodriguez
Comments: 12
Kudos: 61





	so much left unspoken

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on this for a few days and I just realized it's Sofia's birthday so...... it felt like an appropriate time to post, happy birthday sof!!!! not much to this one, just gina having a bday party and typical teen shenanigans ensue. title from just for a moment by Olivia and Josh, obviously.  
> also, just a heads up that this is probably gonna be my last hsmtmts fic for a little bit bc im focusing on a lot of work as well as my wip that I want to finish before March. so.  
> I hope you all enjoy!

Two rhythmic knocks on the door echo through the nearly empty house, and Seb and Carlos jerk apart—Carlos nearly falls off the couch before Seb catches his hand and drags him back upright.

“That must be Nini,” Carlos blushes, scrambling up and making a beeline for the front door.

“Hey!” she grins as the door swings open, Seb walking up behind Carlos. “You guys ready to g—” She cuts herself off and squints up at Carlos. “Ah, did I interrupt something?”

Seb can’t help but laugh as Carlos whips around to stare at him helplessly, because his normally neat hair is sticking up in the back. “Oh, dear,” he holds back a sheepish grin. “C’mere.”

Reluctantly, Carlos lets Seb fix his hair as Nini watches them, an eyebrow raised and her face carefully schooled into an unamused stare. “It’s not like you didn’t know I was coming,” she points out, and Carlos whacks her shoulder.

“You’re early,” he protests, and she rolls her eyes.

“By two minutes,” she pokes back, but her smile is undeniably fond. “Come on, Seb, you said you would drive.”

Nini is older, but only by a few months, and she never got around to getting her license—Seb suspects it has something to do with the fact that anyone will drop anything to get Nini where she needs to be. He supposes he’s one of those people now, too.

“Yeah, hang on,” he says, racing back into the living room and nabbing the wrapped box on the table. He holds it up as Nini watches him, clearly curious. “A book about the history of Broadway,” he explains, “and a signed copy of the OG Hamilton cast Playbill.”

“ _What_?” Nini gasps. “That’s so not fair, you’re gonna show us all up! How did you _get_ that?”

“Carlos helped,” Seb shrugs, and the boy in question looks up from where he’s sitting on the ground, tying his shoes.

“My cousin knows someone in the ensemble,” he explains. “It was a little tricky to get him to part with it, but, you know. For Gina.”

Nini shoulders her bag. “Ugh, yeah, I know. I’m really just glad she’s still here for her own birthday.” She tilts her head to gesture outside. “Speaking of, are we actually gonna go or are we just gonna stand here?”

Carlos pinches her leg, and Nini flicks him back before waltzing out onto the street. “Oi,” Carlos says absently, hand out, and Seb hoists him up.

“Hang on, love,” he says, peering up at Carlos. His bangs are a bit looser today, not held into place with his normal regime of hair products, but there are still a few strands annoyingly out of place. Seb brushes them back, careful not to nudge Carlos’s glasses with his hand and smudge them.

An exasperated sigh sounds from right outside the door. “Come _on_ , we’re gonna be late! Stop being mushy here, you can do that over at Gina’s too!”

Carlos flips her off, presses a kiss to Seb’s cheek, and drags him outside.

* * *

When Nini says _at Gina’s_ , she obviously doesn’t mean the old Porter house—that’s been sold for months. Instead, the Caswells pulled some strings and managed to reserve the arcade in the back of the old bowling alley. Nini is very grateful that they aren’t going to the bowling alley she and Kourtney had gone to with Miss Jenn; she isn’t in the mood for awful karaoke.

“What’d you get Gina anyway?” Seb asks as he rounds a corner. He’s getting better at driving one-handed, Nini notices, probably helped along due to the fact that his right hand is in Carlos’s nearly at all times.

She loves Seb and Carlos to death, she really does. But it’s a somewhat new experience to be the third wheel, and it’s moments like this—when she notices them just… _being_ —that she misses Ricky. Or even EJ. _Someone_.

“Nini?”

She shakes herself back into reality and pats her backpack, tucked into the backseat next to her, and Seb glances in the rearview mirror for a minute before remembering that he’s supposed to be focused. “The novelization of _The Greatest Showman_ ,” Nini shrugs. She and EJ watched it together at camp after she told him about how Ricky got them kicked out of their showing.

Carlos looks back at her. “Because Zac Efron?” he guesses, and she laughs a little.

“And Zendaya,” she adds. “Gina _loves_ Zendaya.”

“That’s a really thoughtful gift, Nini,” Seb smiles, and Nini will never stop being surprised at his genuine sweetness. There’s no one else quite like him, and though she’s working on it, she’s not sure she’ll ever really get used to his sunny disposition.

“Thanks,” she replies uncertainly. “Nothing on that Playbill, though.”

He shakes his head vehemently. “Not true! Gina will love it, and you know it.” Nini opens her mouth to respond, but then Seb makes another turn and says, “I think we’re here!”

* * *

EJ Caswell is going to die tonight.

The entire cast is invited to Gina’s party, so obviously he is too. But when he arrived, Ricky was already there—which was fine, no hard feelings anymore, but they’re definitely not _friends_. So that was awkward.

Now, Nini walks in, flanked by Carlos and Seb, and when she spots him she gives him a tight smile that’s gone in a second. That one stings a bit, _and_ now he knows he’s going to die alone.

He’s been hovering by the table where people have been setting down presents, unsure of where else to go, and when he spots the package in Nini’s hand he hopes she’ll walk over, even if just to put it down. He at least wants to say hi, but he can’t be the one to approach her.

His heart sinks as he watches Nini say something to Carlos and Seb, Carlos nodding as he takes the present from her. She makes a beeline across the room to Gina, away from EJ, and he sighs in defeat.

“Are you going to be mooning and moping all night?” Carlos asks as he wanders over with Seb on his arm.

EJ frowns at him. “Am I moo—what?” _Maybe Carlos is catching cow disease from Seb._

“Mooning,” Carlos repeats, setting two gifts down on the table, “and moping.” He waves a hand in the general direction of the group of theater kids. “Mooning over Nini. Moping about being lonely.”

EJ must look offended or something, because Seb grimaces and puts a hand on Carlos’s shoulder. “Babe, I don’t know if—”

“No, it’s fine,” EJ cuts him off. “I mean… yeah, that was kinda my plan, to be honest.”

“Well,” Seb offers, “what Carlos is _trying_ to say is, you know. Don’t do that.” He chews on his lip, and EJ feels a little bad for making him uneasy. “I mean, yeah, it’s a little bit of a mess. But we’re all in this together, right?”

EJ quirks an eyebrow. “I thought we were done with HSM,” he says.

“We go to East High,” Carlos rolls his eyes. “We’re never really done.”

* * *

“Soooooooo,” Ashlyn drags out as she sidesteps over to EJ. “Did a pep-talk from the boys help?”

He’s staring at their retreating backs as they disappear into the group of theater kids. “Not sure yet.”

She wraps an arm around him and shakes him a little, and he looks down at her in vague amusement. She kicks him, lightly. “You gotta get out there, or else Gina’s gonna think you’re stealing her presents.”

EJ lets out a long-suffering sigh, but he doesn’t resist when Ashlyn grabs his arm and pulls him toward the actual party. She gives him a little push once they’re surrounded by their friends, and he makes a face at her before clapping Charlie on the shoulder and challenging them to a game of air hockey.

“Nice going,” Red says, and she jumps. She didn’t realize he was behind her. “Ricky and I have been trying to figure out how to get him over here for at least an hour.”

“Oh—hi—uh, what?” is what she manages, still a little startled.

He shrugs. “Ricky thinks he might have scared him off earlier, so we were coming up with ways to get him to come over.”

Ashlyn frowns. “Like what?”

“Ricky suggested telling him that Ashley Tisdale is in the back room,” Red answers, “but we didn’t want to accidentally excite Seb for no reason.”

“Right.” The Ashley Tisdale part is weird, but it’s far more bizarre that it was apparently Ricky’s idea to bring EJ over. “I think EJ just… felt a little awkward, since both Nini and Ricky are here.”

Red waves a hand. “Well, I can’t speak for Nini, but I know Ricky’s willing to start over. That’s what he says, at least.”

“Huh,” she says. “That’s incredibly mature, coming from someone who threw a basketball at EJ’s face.” She doesn’t hold it against Ricky, but she genuinely is surprised.

Red shrugs. “Yeah, but I think Gina talked some sense into him,” he explains.

Ashlyn laughs. “Okay, lead with that next time! That makes much more sense.”

* * *

“Ricky, are you even listening to me?”

He blinks over at Kourtney, who’s standing with hands on her hips. “Huh?”

She rolls her eyes. “I said, are you just gonna stand there all night or are you actually going to _talk_ to one of them?”

“One of who?”

“Oh my—Ricky,” she sighs, rubbing a hand over her face. “You cannot be this stupid. Go talk to Gina, or Nini, or EJ. You’ve been watching them all night.”

He opens his mouth to protest, realizes she’s right, then closes it. As much as he would like to claim to be unknowable, Kourtney has always been perceptive, and she had access to him in a way few people did when he and Nini were dating. And it’s always _frustrating_ when she’s right. He wants to talk to Gina, because it’s her birthday and he misses her even though she’s been back living in Salt Lake City for over a month. They just… haven’t spoken much, after the play.

And Nini. He hates how awkward they are around each other, even though they’re getting along now, mostly. She laughs at something Natalie says and he can’t help but stare, at least until he notices EJ doing the same thing just a few feet away.

Ricky doesn’t know how to go about EJ. They aren’t friends, never were, but that was because of Nini and the show. The show is over, and Nini seems alright, so Ricky was… hoping for some closure, or something?

EJ catches his eye and shrugs, fiddles with his phone, then turns and slips a coin into the Pac Man machine next to him. Ricky’s own phone buzzes in his hand, and when he checks the lockscreen it’s a simple text from an unknown number: _we’re good_.

He looks back up at EJ, but his back is turned, focused on his game. Ricky can see his fingers tapping anxiously on the side of the machine, though, and he’s pretty sure that he’s right in thinking it was EJ’s text.

Well. That was easy. He should’ve known, though—Nini has terrible taste in boyfriends (he will readily admit that) but a knack for finding kind-hearted people.

He looks up at Kourtney, who’s still watching him. “Can you give me a minute?” he says, and she aquieces, drifting off to give her psychic advice to some other poor soul. He glances around and spots Gina leaning against the pool table, momentarily alone. Side-stepping around Red and Rico’s attempt at conversation, he makes his way over.

“Hey,” he says, leaning next to her. “Happy birthday.”

“Thanks, Ricky,” she smiles, a little shyly. “I’m glad you’re here. I thought maybe…”

“Of course I came,” he cuts her off. “Don’t think for a second that I wouldn’t.”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. I’ve been back here for almost two months, and I’ve barely seen you. It feels like you’re avoiding me.”

“I was,” Ricky admits bluntly, and he surprises even himself. “But you didn’t deserve that.” He frowns down at the cue stick laying on the table. “Can we go somewhere quiet for a second? To talk?”

“Sure,” she says, clearly a little bewildered, but she gestures for him to follow her. And he does, because he trusts her.

She leads him to a row of arcade games, walking to the end. Ricky can’t help but laugh a little as they reach the alcove against the wall, because Carlos and Seb appear to have had a similar idea—they’re sitting knee to knee, whispering something—and they startle as Gina walks up.

“Birthday girl rights,” Gina proclaims, and the boys groan but scurry away nonetheless. Gina settles herself into the corner and Ricky sits on his knees across from her. “What’s up?” she asks.

Ricky ponders it for a second. There’s a lot he wants to talk to Gina about—her family, _his_ family, Nini…

“Since when did Carlos and Seb become _that_ couple?” is what he says instead, and Gina snorts. He shakes his head, trying to be serious. “I miss you.” Okay, maybe not _that_ serious.

Gina frowns. “Ricky, I’m right here. I’m not leaving again.”

“I know, I know, it’s just…” he sighs. “Before you left, I was so caught up with Nini that I don’t think you really got the friendship you deserved. From _any_ of us, really, but especially me.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” she says, but Ricky can hear the sad tremble in her voice.

“Yes, I do,” he insists. “Gina, I need you in my life. I didn’t realize until you were gone, and when you came back I was just… trying to process. Everything.”

She puts a hand on his knee. “I’m really sorry about your mom.”

Ricky tips his head back against the machine, hoping Gina can’t see his face in the shadows. “It’s… yeah, it sucks. But…”

“No buts,” she says. “It sucks, it does. I get it.”

Somehow, he knows she does.

He takes a breath in, holds it, then lets it out in four beats. Nini taught him that. “I just really needed you to know that I care,” Ricky says.

Gina smiles, still a little sadly. “I know, Ricky.” She stands, abruptly, and holds out a hand. “Come on, let’s go get cake.”

* * *

Gina hopes Ricky can’t see how her hands are shaking as they walk back to the lounge area of the arcade. It’s been… difficult, since she got back, because after their tense interaction on opening night, she’s barely heard from him.

But she’s been sad enough in the past few years, so for _once_ she would like to enjoy herself, especially on her own birthday. She deserves this one night, right? (She thinks she may have picked up that outlook from Nini.)

Someone whoops—Gina thinks it might be Big Red—and she jogs the last few steps back to the room to see what the commotion is.

“There you are!” Steph says over the music that has suddenly gotten louder, thrusting a slice of pizza at her. “We were wondering where you’d gone.”

“Thanks,” she replies, taking the plate. “What’s going on?” Nearly the entire cast is clustered around a game that she can’t quite see.

Steph laughs. “An _intense_ game of DDR, I think you should watch. Oh hey, Ricky, want some pizza?”

Gina makes her way over to the group and as soon as they see her they let her through, until she’s standing at the front of the pack. Sure enough, Seb and Carlos are on the two arrow pads, frantically trying to match the pace of the impressively fast song. She glances over at Nini with what she hopes is a look of mixed confusion and terror, and Nini just shrugs, palms to the ceiling. It’s almost comical how many people are cheering for Seb—and why wouldn’t they? Carlos has an obvious leg up as the choreographer.

“Oh, I see how it is!” Carlos complains even as he intently stares at the screen, and Gina’s heart feels warm when she sees the fond look Seb shoots at him when he isn’t looking. Sometimes she thinks that they’re the only thing she knows that’s real. Well, them and Ricky, and Ricky hasn’t exactly been off the ethereal plane lately.

She almost doesn’t notice when the game beeps, signaling the end, and Seb practically wilts onto the floor.

“You definitely won,” he rasps up at Carlos, who is gripping the rail on the machine so he doesn’t fall over like his boyfriend. “Why did you pick the extreme mode?”

“Hey, Seb,” Nini says, stepping forward and leaning over him. “You won, actually.”

“ _What_?”

Both Seb and Carlos look over at the scoreboard at the same moment—sure enough, Player 1 is up.

Carlos seems to give up entirely, lying flat on his back on the floor. “I’ve been defeated, I’m dead, bring me cake.”

Ashlyn helps him up and Kourtney steadies Seb, and Gina joins in on the smattering of laughs as both boys half-heartedly bicker while being led to some chairs.

“And my faith in love is restored,” Nini fake swoons, falling onto Gina. “You wanna play?”

“I’m sorry, what?”

Nini tilts her head. “Do you want to play?” She points at the DDR machine for emphasis. “I mean, I know you’ll win, but… it’ll be fun, right?”

Gina grins. “You’re going down, Salaz—your name isn’t good for trash-talking.”

“Well noticed, Porter,” Nini shoots back, claiming the Player 1 pad, and Gina lets out a fake-miffed groan.

As she hops onto the Player 2 side, she turns her face so that Nini doesn’t see her ridiculous smile. In doing so, she catches Ricky’s eye. Something flickers in his eyes and then it’s gone, the corners of his lips tilting up as he shoots her two thumbs up. Maybe some things can get better—they’ll get better.

His smile turns mischievous, and he cups his hands around his mouth as he stares directly at Gina. “Go Nini! No mercy on birthdays!”

Nini laughs, Gina flips him off, and then the music starts and she lets herself get lost in the dance.

* * *

“Happy birthday, Gina,” Carlos says into her hair, hugging her tightly. “I’m so happy you’re here, you know.”

She squeezes him back, fingers digging into the smooth material of his puffer jacket. “Me, too.”

Carlos detaches himself from her so Seb can have a turn, watching his two favorite people in the world fondly. “This was so much fun,” Seb tells her. “We should do this more, not just for birthdays and stuff!”

“I think that’s up to the Caswells,” Gina points out, but she’s smiling. “Might be fun, though.” She pulls them both into a brief group hug before patting them both on the shoulder. “Drive home safe, okay? And,” she points over Seb’s shoulder, “take care of that one for me.”

Carlos follows her finger and sees Nini, which makes sense, who is gesticulating wildly while _talking to Ricky_ , which does not make sense. “Huh.”

He prides himself on being a triple-threat, he won’t deny that. But he’s almost certain he needs to brush up on his acting lessons, because he absolutely cannot name the expression that Gina is wearing.

Then Seb grabs his hand, his thumb running over the lines of his palm, and it kind of clicks.

“Nini!” Seb calls. “We’re overheating here!” Carlos knows that’s not really true, but it’ll spare Gina, and themselves, from watching… whatever that is. Big Red, bless him, seems to get the memo and appears out of nowhere to drag Ricky away. Ricky scowls at Nini when she just laughs at his predicament, then locks eyes with Gina and mouths _help me!_ (Carlos wonders if this is what third-wheeling with him and Seb is like.) Nini bounds over and he scrutinizes her, wondering what they could have been talking about. She looks… content, that’s the only word for it. She isn’t pleased and she isn’t bored. She’s simply _content_.

“Bye, Gina!” she chirps, hugging her. “It was really fun losing against you.”

Gina smirks, and Carlos is truly impressed with her—he can’t tell if she’s an incredible actor or if she’s bouncing back from her rapid plunge so quickly. “It was about time, no?”

Nini shrugs like _that’s fair_. “See you tomorrow!”

Gina waves as Nini heads out the door, Carlos trailing behind even as Seb tugs on his hand. “Gina, I…”

She just smiles thinly at him, giving him a mock salute. Carlos feels bad—she looks so alone now that everyone is gone, just her in an empty old arcade on her birthday.

“You sure you don’t need a ride?” Seb’s voice sounds from right behind him, and _god_ , this is why Carlos loves him. He always knows what Carlos is trying to say when he can’t say it.

“I live in the complete opposite direction of Nini’s house,” Gina points out, and Nini turns around at the sound of her name.

“No, no worries! Gina, come on, you can’t just wait for a cab here,” she says, and Carlos now sees the difference between Gina’s fake and real smiles. This is a real one.

“Seriously, it’s okay,” she says. “I’m not waiting for a cab. I’m waiting for… well, an old family friend.” She shakes her head, still grinning. “Come on, go! I’ll see you all tomorrow. Thank you so much for coming.”

Seb shakes his head like _if you insist_ , waving at her before taking Carlos’s hand and shoving their intertwined fingers into his jacket pocket. Gina makes a shooing motion and Nini makes a face at her before stepping over to Seb’s car and tugging on the locked back door handle.

 _Take care of her for me,_ Carlos remembers, and he playfully messes Nini’s hair with his free hand. She shrieks, a sound full of glee and childish energy, and he thinks he finally understands what Ricky and Gina and EJ and everyone else sees in her.

He lets out an _oomph_ when he collapses into the passenger’s seat, catching Seb’s eye before he can start the ignition. “We got lucky,” he says quietly, knowing Nini can’t hear him over the sound of the doors closing and her coat and seat belt rubbing together as she tussles with the contraption. It’s something he never thought he would say—would never be _able_ to say—but it’s true. He imagines what his younger self would say if he told him that in the future, he would have the most stable relationship of all of his friends, with a boy, in _Utah_.

“Yeah,” Seb replies softly, taking his hand again. He glances in the rearview mirror, and Carlos does too, but Gina has already disappeared inside.

“Okay, I get that this is a tender moment or whatever, again, but some single people are gonna start feeling jealous,” Nini interrupts. “It’s me, I’m the single people.”

Carlos snorts, letting go of Seb’s hand so he can start the ignition. “Drama queen,” he says as they pull out of the parking lot.

“Why, thank you!”

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are, as always, appreciated.  
> find me on tumblr, my main is [@perseusjaxon](https://perseusjaxon.tumblr.com) and my hsmtmts blog is [@rinaseblos](https://rinaseblos.tumblr.com)!


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